Over the course of this summer, five new players are going the process of integrating themselves with the Virginia men's basketball team. Four of them also face the task of adjusting to college life. One, however, has been there and done that. Junior forward Ryan Pettinella's road to Charlottesville has been a long and complicated one.
After four years as a varsity player for McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, NY., Pettinella had a bevy of scholarship offers from prestigious schools to choose from. He could not, however, turn down the opportunity presented to him by the University of Pennsylvania.
"They have a winning tradition there and I actually got into the Wharton School of Business so that was a big lure," Pettinella said. "The combination of basketball tradition and academics really sold me on it."
The Ivy League is unique in the world of Division I athletic conferences. None of the eight member schools offer athletic scholarships and all conference games are played on Fridays and Saturdays to avoid interference with the academic week.
"It's a different experience than any other league in the country, that's for sure," Pettinella said.
During his sophomore campaign -- the 2004-2005 season -- Pettinella averaged 4.8 points during 12.4 minutes per game off the bench. He played in all 29 games for the Quakers but did not notch a start.
He did, however, get to live out a boyhood dream by playing in the NCAA Tournament after Penn won the 2005 Ivy League Championship. The No. 13 seeded Quakers traveled to Cleveland for a first-round match-up against No. 4 seed Boston College. Penn ended up on the short-end of an 85-65 loss but Pettinella was still thrilled that he had the opportunity to participate in March Madness.
"It was incredible, the best experience of my life," Pettinella, who recorded six points and two rebounds in the loss, said. "That was my dream to go to the NCAA Tournament and I'd like to get back there.
After the season, Pettinella made a critical evaluation of his place in Penn's basketball program and made the tough decision to transfer. Pettinella was never able to fully adjust to working in Penn's type of offense.
"Penn wasn't really conducive to my style of play," Pettinella said. "As far as running the court, it was more of a slow-down offense -- deliberate-style, Princeton-type sets. I just wasn't very comfortable playing in that kind of system so I decided to go to a more athletic program."
Pettinella chose to transfer to the University of Cincinnati. He had developed a warm personal relationship with the Bearcats head coach Bob Huggins. Pettinella moved to Cincinnati last summer, enrolled in summer classes and it looked as if he would spend his last two years of eligibility in the Queen City.
Storm clouds, however, were hovering over the Cincinnati program. Huggins had been arrested in 2004 for driving under the influence of alcohol and there was growing sentiment in the University of Cincinnati community that he was no longer a suitable representative for the basketball program. Last August, Huggins reached a deal with Cincinnati officials in which he resigned in exchange for Cincinnati buying out the last three years of his contract.
For Pettinella, the loss of Huggins was devastating. Almost immediately, he decided that he would once again transfer.
"Huggins was the main reason that I had decided to go to Cincinnati," Pettinella said. "When all that stuff broke out with him and he left, I consequently decided to leave there."
Pettinella chose to return home to New York and enroll at Monroe Community College for a year while looking at new options for where to continue his basketball career. By not playing basketball, he satisfied NCAA transfer requirements and made it possible for him to be eligible anywhere this coming season. He did, however, continue to work on improving his game through individual workouts at a gym in Rochester.
It was during the fall of 2005 that Pettinella began to see Virginia as a possibility. Virginia assistant coach Rob Lanier had recruited Pettinella out of high school when Lanier was the head coach at Siena College in New York. Lanier had contacted Pettinella after he had left Penn and then contacted him again after Pettinella's de-commitment from Cincinnati.
"[Lanier] told me to come down to Virginia for an official visit and I came down and really fell in love with the campus," Pettinella said. "It's a great place and one thing led to another, and here I am."
One reason that Virginia was able to snag Pettinella was that Huggins was not hired by Kansas State until late March. By that point, Pettinella had already made his decision to come to Charlottesville.
"Kansas State was actually one of my top choices," Pettinella said. "But [Huggins] ended up waiting so long and I wasn't sure where he was going to land and in the meantime I committed to Virginia."
Pettinella closely followed Virginia's fortunes last season and was pleased with what he saw.
"They definitely surpassed expectations immensely," he said. "I was really impressed with their style of play and the intensity they played with. They really surprised a lot of people and hopefully we can do that again this year and beat expectations."
Pettinella moved to Charlottesville three weeks ago to enroll in summer classes and work out with his teammates. He is undaunted by the prospect of adjusting to Virginia's program.
"It's been going well," he said. I've been through this before, having been in college for three years, so it's not new to me. Everyone on the team has been great."
At 6'9", Pettinella will a welcomed addition to a frontcourt that lacked depth last season. The Cavaliers lost only one player -- Billy Campbell -- to graduation after last season and Pettinella is confident that Virginia will be able to build upon last year's unexpected success.
"I think one of our big goals this year is definitely to make the NCAA Tournament," he said. "I think with the talent we have, the bench we have and the coaching staff, reaching the tournament should be our main expectation."
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